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House District 77 of the Montana Legislature mainly encompasses Jefferson County but overlaps into Lewis & Clark County, and that's where Republican Alan Hale is facing off against Democrat Sheila Hogan.

Hale owns the Silver Saddle Bar and Cafe in Basin, Montana. He has an interest in developing Montana's natural resources, and says that by reducing taxes and regulations on businesses it will create jobs.

Hale explained, "That big pool of oil is under Montana as well as North Dakota, South Dakota, and into Saskatchewan. The Baaken Field is a big field and we need to get in on some of that and produce some revenue for the state. Same thing with the mining. The DEQ, the reason Montana Tunnels didn't get going sooner is cause it took so long for the DEQ to get their permits in place the crisis had hit by the time they finally got their permits."

Hogan is a Butte native and her family has a rich mining history. She currently works as the director of the Career Training Institute in Helena, and has an interest and history in workforce development.

She told us what her ideas are for job creation: "First thing we need to do is we need to stabilize our foundational industries. And in Jefferson County it is the natural resource-based economy. We need to make sure those items are solid in Jefferson County and throughout the state. Secondly, we need to look at diversification. We are doing some of that work in Jefferson County. For example we are working on two increment financing districts."